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volunteering


an open mind with callers. Much like when journalists carry out interviews. But are we always as open-minded as


Be a good listener I


Listening to people ‘in crisis’ as a Samaritan helped to make me a better journalist, says Laura Cooke


t is coming up to 3am and most sensible people are tucked up in their beds. Yet here I am, stuck


in a stuffy office in the wrong part of town, wired up on strong coffee and relying on a massive sugar rush to stay awake as I steadily munch my way through a pile of Jammie Dodgers. The silence is broken by a shrill


ringing. I pick up the receiver and speak the familiar words: “Samaritans, can I help you?” For three years, I helped man the phones at my branch of the Samaritans for a few hours on a Friday night, including a regular midnight to 3am shift, all on the back of a full week on the newsdesk of the local paper. At the time, I kept quiet about


volunteering for fear of dissuading someone who may need the service from calling. After all, the thought of a journalist poised on the other end of the line, pen in hand, waiting for you to pour out your fears and darkest thoughts would be enough to put some people off.


20 | theJournalist But journalists have the potential to


make excellent Samaritans – we are used to asking sensitive questions, we are not easily shocked and we know how to keep secrets when it matters. We listen to people talk about their own lives and their experiences for a living. There is plenty we can bring to the role. In turn, volunteering at the


Samaritans brought a myriad of benefits, including one I wasn’t really expecting. I firmly believe being a Samaritan helped to make me a better journalist. In case you don’t know the


background to the Samaritans, the charity was set up in 1953 by London vicar Chad Varah, who came up with the idea following a funeral he conducted for a 14-year-old girl early on in his career. The teenager had started her period


but, having no one to talk to, believed she had a sexually transmitted disease and took her own life. This had a profound impact on Rev Varah, who went on to launch what he referred to as ‘999 for the suicidal’. The Samaritans uses a lot of role play


in its rigorous training programme to drive home the importance of having





We were told to ‘get into the pit’ with the caller, to sit alongside them, removing ourselves from the role of impartial observer


we like to think we are? As any journalist who has been reporting for a long time knows, it can make you extremely cynical. Although this can be beneficial, it can affect our ability to listen with an open mind and in a non-judgmental way. Sometimes we go into interviews with preconceived narratives, the roles of hero and villain already cast, looking for quotes and information to firm up our preferred angle. Sometimes there is no avoiding this – but a persistently blinkered approach can prevent us from unearthing a real gem of a story. After 12 years of reporting, the Samaritans helped me to ‘recalibrate’ my listening skills and I found I began to get more out of interviews again. Volunteering as a Samaritan also offered an insight into issues I have reported on numerous times but have been fortunate enough not to have experienced myself. For example, we all know mental


health services are stretched and that there are serious issues within adult social care. We have likely interviewed someone who has been affected by these issues or covered an inquiry or even an inquest if things have gone wrong. Samaritans volunteers see these issues in their rawest form. They are talking to people in the throes of crisis, people who have reached their lowest point, some of whom may intend to end their life, others who may have already taken steps to do so. During my Samaritans’ training,


we were told to ‘get into the pit’ with the caller, to sit alongside them, removing ourselves from the role of impartial observer. This process helped to give me a better understanding of how people find themselves in the most desperate of situations. As a result, I feel I am able to report on these issues more responsibly and with more compassion. Taking calls for the Samaritans is one of the most difficult but fulfilling things that I have ever done. Although I have left the ‘frontline’ in favour of a supporting role in fundraising and marketing, some of those calls will never leave me. Nor will the weeks of rigorous training, which ultimately turned out to be some of the best journalism training I have ever had.


© JULIA CLAXTON 2020


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